Final Of Caa Means Drama Every Season

David Teel

March 01, 1999|By DAVID TEEL Daily Press

RICHMOND — For 36 minutes, George Mason and Old Dominion tortured us with play so inept as to conjure visions of two-handed set shots and peach baskets. Four minutes of searing drama made it all worthwhile.

Drama, of course, is always in the house when a mid-major conference determines its sole representative to the NCAA basketball tournament, its sole recipient of at least a week's worth of priceless national exposure. So as Jason Miskiri elevated for an against-all-odds 3-pointer in the waning moments Sunday evening, 7,097 at Richmond Coliseum rose from their seats as one.

As Miskiri's shot, launched against defensive pressure and with the shot clock at four seconds, settled into the net, the drama was concluded. George Mason was champion of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament and bound for the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history.

As a pack of students celebrated on the court around him, GMU athletics director Tom O'Connor groped to explain the significance of the Patriots' 63-58 victory. He spoke of childhood dreams being realized, of lifelong love for the game.

``It's about the kids,'' he repeated several times.

Well, calling tournament MVP George Evans a kid is a bit of a stretch. Evans, after all, is a 28-year-old Gulf War veteran. He's witnessed things most college students can't even imagine.

But when Evans, a Portsmouth native, traded his Army fatigues for a tank top and high-tops, he probably couldn't have imagined becoming the linchpin of an undisputed conference champion. Yet that is precisely what Mason is after whipping Old Dominion for the third time in as many meetings this season.

The Monarchs, probably bound for the NIT at 24-8, were an obvious choice as the CAA's preseason favorite. But in each encounter with the quicker Patriots, they wilted under defensive pressure, committing a combined 72 turnovers.

To make matters worse Sunday, Old Dominion shot abysmally. Again. In three CAA Tournament games, the Monarchs shot 30.4, 37.0 and 35.3 percent. If you can't bust 40 percent in three games, you simply don't deserve to make the NCAA Tournament.

But there is a good reason these CAA Tournament games quickly degenerated into gut-wrenching affairs that only a mother could love: pressure.

Pressure isn't the ACC, Big Ten or Big East tournaments, where anywhere from three to seven teams stroll into town with a NCAA bid secured. Pressure is the CAA Tournament, where guarantees are non-existent.

Consider George Mason's plight. The Patriots won the CAA regular season by two games with a 13-3 record. Their three defeats were by a combined 14 points. Yet a loss Sunday night meant postseason exile. No NCAA for sure, and probably no NIT with only 18 victories overall.

Then there's Old Dominion. The Monarchs own 24 victories, one shy of the school record. A quality season by any reasonable standard. But college basketball is not a reasonable game. The NCAA Tournament was Old Dominion's aim, and anything else was failure.

Failure seemed assured when the Monarchs trailed 51-41 with little more than four minutes remaining. But in just more than two minutes, Old Dominion scored 12 points to draw within 54-53 with 1:39 left.

That's when Miskiri struck, sending coach Jim Larranaga to the NCAAs for the first time in 13 seasons as a Division I head coach.

``For me it's been a long road,'' Larranaga said, ``but well worth the wait.''

David Teel can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at dteel@dailypress.com